The moment Nelly Korda had been working towards all her life finally arrived on Sunday as the sun began to set. Riviera Country Club. Countless hours of work when no one was watching – early mornings, grueling sessions, numerous triumphs and Last year’s heartbreak at Erin Hills — all brought Nelly Korda to the brink of her destiny.
All that stood between her and a U.S. Women’s Open title at a historic venue was 2 feet, 10 inches. Such a small distance can feel great when it’s all that stands between you and one of your heart’s deepest desires. The fear of having everything you’ve ever wanted only to let it slip away at the last moment can be crippling. From Dustin Johnson to Rory McIlroy, the history of golf’s major championships is littered with legends who missed the shots they made thousands of times when the weight of the world was in their hands.
After 71 holes at Riviera, Nelly Korda sat at the top of the leaderboard by one stroke. She launched a 288-yard drive at 158 mph down the center of the iconic 18th fairway, hit her approach 35 feet and left herself 34 inches to claim the biggest prize in women’s golf. Korda, whose putter has been her kryptonite at times throughout her career, had been nearly perfect from short range this week in Los Angeles. She lined up the putt, took a breath, and hit the ball with a shaky shot, sending it to its destiny. The ball left the pitcher’s face, hit the rim and looked like it was going to slide, sending Korda into a playoff with Charley Hull and Gaby Lopez.
But this time the golf gods had other ideas. Nelly Korda’s fate had been postponed for quite some time – the runner-up’s sting at Erin Hills was a necessary wound, but it did not need a partner. The ball hit the rim, rolled around the cup and fell.
“Don’t make me relive that again,” a smiling Korda told NBC’s Cara Banks as she clutched the US Women’s Open trophy and the Mickey Wright Medal.
“The thing is, you can barely feel your hands.”
The irony is that Korda’s journey towards her dreams is one that will play on her mind for the rest of her life. That feeling, of catching the car you’ve been chasing for so long, is something you can’t replicate. It is quickly gone, leaving you with only the memory of the day you carved yourself into history.
For Nelly Korda, her road to US Women’s Open immortality began long ago, before anyone knew Nelly Korda. The tireless work ethic that has come to define her rise was instilled in her at a very young age by her parents, Petr Korda and Regina Rajchrtová, who are both former tennis players. Her ascension to the dominant star in women’s golf has seen her capture three majors before Sunday, but the one she wanted more than anything hinted at it. Her record at the US Women’s Open was extremely poor until last year at Erin Hills, where a weak putter prevented him from tracking down the eventual champion Maja Stark.
“I’ve always felt like I put so much emphasis on the Women’s Open, like that’s where my dream of playing on the LPGA started,” Korda said Sunday after her win. “Every year I like that I’ve never played well. I’ve always been level or I’ve made a mess at Lancaster, and I just felt like that dream was almost slipping away. But it’s still keeping me very motivated.”
That day in Wisconsin was a pivotal moment. This showed Korda that her dream of being a US Open Women’s champion was achievable. “I kind of turned around, okay, how can I be in the hunt, I can do this, I can play and I can compete in a US Women’s Open. I can put the dream aside and focus on what’s in front of me,” Korda said.
Korda arrived at the Riviera as the heavy favourite. This was a massive stage for women’s golf, and with the game’s greatest player winning on an iconic course and putting her name on the Ben Hogan statue that stands above her, it seemed as if women’s golf in the Hollywood scenario was in desperate search.
Then came the first round, where Korda stumbled out of the gate, shooting a 2-over 73 to cut seven shots off the 18-hole lead. In the past, Nelly Korda might have been ashamed of herself, believing she would have shot herself out of the tournament before proceedings really got underway. Instead, Korda embraces the championship’s main event and started the low round of the day on Friday, a 4-under 67 to get back into contention. Another 67 on Saturday saw Korda close with three straight birdies to capture a share of the 54-hole lead and produced the biggest round of her career on sunday.
On Sunday, Korda received a text message from Tiger Woods, telling her to “get it over with today.” it had written positive messages to himself on sticky notes on her bathroom mirror all week. As the dream beckoned, Korda wrote a final message to herself.
Whatever happens happens. Just give 100 percent.
Korda opened with a birdie at the first and added another at the sixth before bogeying No. 7 to fall out of the lead. Korda watched as Hull climbed up the board to take the lead and then saw In Gee Chun race to a two-shot lead with six holes to play. While others made their move, Korda tried to stay present even when the doubts that come when you’ve tried and failed to achieve your dream inevitably come.
“I mean, I definitely had doubts that even in the middle of the round I was like, well, am I ever going to win it, right?” said Korda. “I mean you always have those doubts. But I think you’re just a human being if you have them. Like everybody will have them eventually at some point in their career.”
But Korda was never scared. She made nine consecutive US Open tests from eight to 16 as Hull, Chun and others stumbled. She reached the par-5 17th tied for the lead, knowing a birdie and a par would likely give her the trophy. Korda found the fairway and then pulled her shot to the rough left side of the green but with a good angle to the pin. Her chip left her just 10 feet for birdie, which Korda rolled into the center of the cup to take a one-shot lead that she refused to let slip through her fingers, even when she couldn’t feel them on the final shot.
As reality set in for Nelly Korda on the 18th green at the Riviera, with fans sitting on the hill chanting her name, her emotions – those that only arrive when life’s dreams are achieved, when mountains are climbed – flowed.
“I feel like I’m in a dream,” said a teary-eyed Korda on the 18th green after receiving the trophy. “God, I can’t even explain how much this means to me. Thank you all for coming out and cheering me on. It really brings tears to my eyes.
“I really don’t have any,” Korda later said when asked to put her crowning achievement into words. “I mean, that 14-year-old girl who raced at Sebonack in 2013, I mean, her dream has just come true sitting next to this trophy right now.”
There is a weight in dreams and waiting. Nelly Korda has backed them up as she tries to find a way to get back on track as she arrives at Riviera Country Club on Sunday. She has tried everything to win this tournament. She stressed it a lot and tried to treat it like any other event. Her failures piled up and suspicion grew. A deep scar at Erin Hills gave her faith and pain. It also led him to a change in mindset that he saw her focus on being Nelly happy and free on the golf course instead of letting negative thoughts overwhelm her world-class game.
“Last year, the US Open hurt,” Korda caddy Jason McDede told GOLF.com in Houston. after her victory in the Chevron Championship in April. “But everything happens for a reason, right? If it didn’t, maybe we wouldn’t be here right now.”
After finally reaching the top of the mountain, Nelly Korda faced a question that all great athletes face after reaching their destiny, after carrying the burden of grandiose dreams on their backs. Do you feel different? Has driving left you fulfilled and liberated?
Nelly Korda, whose name will live forever at the Riviera Country Club, didn’t feel the need to ask for an answer; she had already found everything she needed to finally get to the place she had always imagined for herself when she was just a girl reaching for the stars.
“I don’t know if any weight has been lifted off my shoulders,” Korda said. “But I just think I’m extremely proud of my fight this week and that little girl’s dream that you can check that off your bucket list.”
In the end, Nelly Korda’s winding path to the U.S. Women’s Open trophy came down to 2 feet, 10 inches; to numb hands and doubts and dreams and expectations; on the long journey to immortality and the questions of what happens if you never reach your destination.
Thirty-four inches later and every bit of the cup later, Nelly Korda finally became what she was always meant to be – forever US Open Women’s champion.
